Let's go with the truth. Throw some bravado at this guy and see if our casual tone in this situation doesn't pay off. I could see the leader being more intimidated by that than the first line, but it lets him also act casually in front of his men.

We can't bully the prisoner free (option 1) because the leader wants to look tough for his men, and we should think twice about getting into a risky combat against so many armed opponents.

I vote for an attempt towards diplomatic solution. Several is more than one, and although Titus has a dagger now, I am not convinced he can defeat 4+ alert enemies. And if he doesn't, the LP is over.

They might know that Daratans killed their messenger, but they wish to get something for the captive, and they will not if they kill whoever is sent to negotiate. Disclosing Titus' allegiance probably isn't that risky. Especially considering that he hardly signed anything.

Which one of the raiders is the leader, the middle one? Holding a hand on a pommel implies that the weapon is sheathed, and they are all armed. What is that in his hand anyway?By the way, can you say "holding his hand on the sword's pommel" if the sword is never mentioned before?

Alright, let's brain storm. Option 1 is a suicide mission. A tough basher can pull it off, maybe even become a new leader of the gang, forcing the raiders into submission, but that's a job for the real Titus Pullo, not some wannabe. Option 3 is lame because it doesn't have the magic tags. So, option 2 it is!

Hmm, looks like Titus should have spent more time practicing strikes at vital organs instead of eating donuts and reading Etiquette for Dummies. HAY! WHERE IS MAH GOLD?!

Does your trading skill impact what the agreed upon price will finally be?

Also, it's kind of obnoxious to have to click through every little step of the "negotiation." "1000," "200," "900," "300," etc, etc... it reads like a Bugs Bunny script more than anything else. Why not skip right to it?

"Please, the big guy wouldn't even be looking for this brat if it weren't such a slow week. For half that much he could just send a few mercenary companies."

"Fine, 500."

I'm not getting a sense of freedom in this quest. It feels like our options are to fight or deliver a message to the Lord (with the option of haggling the price). I realize that in these text adventures we don't always see all possible choices if our skills are too low, but it seems we're pretty limited here. With skills increased a bit would it be possible to sneak in under cover of night and try to break the hostage out, or persuade them to let him go right now? Can we use our faction standing to talk up how Daratan loves to hire our fellow Assassins and just intimidate the hostage free?

I for one enjoy the haggling bit. It is linear, but full of flavor. A keeper if you ask me. I also disagree with Fosse on the options, I think they are very reasonable, and as we saw in the first option, may not always turn out as we initially thought.

The usual nitpick: It should be "That depends on the kin..." not a kin, am I right?

Logged

------------------------------------------=====================---------------------------------------"Merely killing those being mean to me. It's not my fault it's everyone in the world of AoD". (Vahhabyte)

Alright, let's brain storm. Option 1 is a suicide mission. A tough basher can pull it off, maybe even become a new leader of the gang, forcing the raiders into submission, but that's a job for the real Titus Pullo, not some wannabe. Option 3 is lame because it doesn't have the magic tags. So, option 2 it is!

Hmm, looks like Titus should have spent more time practicing strikes at vital organs instead of eating donuts and reading Etiquette for Dummies. HAY! WHERE IS MAH GOLD?!

Hey, it's not my fault our assassin is a fucking pussy who can't even handle the tailor-made-for-assassins option. And shouldn't being beaten to a pulp be followed by a big crossbow shootout with the raiders?

I'm not getting a sense of freedom in this quest. It feels like our options are to fight or deliver a message to the Lord (with the option of haggling the price). I realize that in these text adventures we don't always see all possible choices if our skills are too low, but it seems we're pretty limited here. With skills increased a bit would it be possible to sneak in under cover of night and try to break the hostage out, or persuade them to let him go right now? Can we use our faction standing to talk up how Daratan loves to hire our fellow Assassins and just intimidate the hostage free?

In an older pic, it was shown that if you had high-enough perception, you could notice something about the camp. Can't remember what that was exactly, but it probably led to an alternate solution.

Alright, let's brain storm. Option 1 is a suicide mission. A tough basher can pull it off, maybe even become a new leader of the gang, forcing the raiders into submission, but that's a job for the real Titus Pullo, not some wannabe. Option 3 is lame because it doesn't have the magic tags. So, option 2 it is!

Hmm, looks like Titus should have spent more time practicing strikes at vital organs instead of eating donuts and reading Etiquette for Dummies. HAY! WHERE IS MAH GOLD?!

Hey, it's not my fault our assassin is a fucking pussy who can't even handle the tailor-made-for-assassins option. And shouldn't being beaten to a pulp be followed by a big crossbow shootout with the raiders?

Well, we decided to invest in speech skills instead of fighting/assassin skills.

Does your trading skill impact what the agreed upon price will finally be?

No. Once you pass the check, you get the "flavor" conversation that you dislike so much.

Quote

Also, it's kind of obnoxious to have to click through every little step of the "negotiation." "1000," "200," "900," "300," etc, etc... it reads like a Bugs Bunny script more than anything else. Why not skip right to it?

That's what negotiations often look like. Cutting it down to one line, in my opinion, will reduce a conversation to "uh, can you give me a discount?", which would be kinda lame.

Quote

I'm not getting a sense of freedom in this quest. It feels like our options are to fight or deliver a message to the Lord (with the option of haggling the price). I realize that in these text adventures we don't always see all possible choices if our skills are too low, but it seems we're pretty limited here. With skills increased a bit would it be possible to sneak in under cover of night and try to break the hostage out, or persuade them to let him go right now? Can we use our faction standing to talk up how Daratan loves to hire our fellow Assassins and just intimidate the hostage free?

Here are the options:

1. Kill 'em all2. Kill the leader, intimidate the rest (either to leave or to accept you as a new leader)3. Negotiate the ransom. IF you convince H. Daratan to pay the ransom, you can pocket the difference.4. Provide tactical information to Dellar. His enforcers will attack and the results will depend on the quality of the info, which tied to your Perception. 5. Convince/pay the thieves to deal with the raiders (here are some old screens)6. Make a deal with the Imperial Guards.

Still not enough freedom? You can't convince the raiders to let the noble go (that would be silly, imo), but you can convince other people to deal with the situation, which is more interesting and interactive than picking an option you like the most from a list (see my article about diplomatic paths).[/quote]

Hey, it's not my fault our assassin is a fucking pussy who can't even handle the tailor-made-for-assassins option. And shouldn't being beaten to a pulp be followed by a big crossbow shootout with the raiders?

a) check your hit pointsb) you don't have your crossbow anymore. In fact, you don't have anything in your inventory anymore (other than what you're wearing). On the plus side, you've learned something and now have 5 brand new Dodge points.